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List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated features
This list of theatrical animated feature films consists of animated films released by Universal Pictures, the film division of Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Universal releases films from Universal-owned and non-Universal owned animation studios. Most films listed below are from Gingo Animation, which became a unit of Universal and as of 2017 has produced a total of eighteen feature films for Universal starting with Paint World in 1999, and Illumination Entertainment, which produced a total of eight feature films for Universal starting with Despicable Me in 2010. Beginning with How to Train Your Dragon 3 in 2019, Universal will release animated films by DreamWorks Animation, which was acquired by Universal in 2016. Other studio units have also released films theatrically, namely Universal acquires film rights from outside animation studios to release films under the Universal Pictures or Focus Features labels. For example, Laika's stop-motion animated features were released by Universal through its Focus Features label. Other studios globally have released films through Universal Pictures which maintains distribution rights in certain territories. History 1952–1995: Early Universal animated films, before Gingo Before Universal Studios started releasing and distributing feature-length animated films in 1959, Universal operated an animation studio called Walter Lantz Productions, which was the principal supplier of animation for Universal. Active from 1929 to 1972, the studio was best known for its biggest characters including Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The music-oriented Swing Symphony cartoons were another successful staple, but ended after swing music died out. In 1959, Universal released their first ever animated feature-length film, which is an English-dubbed version of the 1957 Russian animated film The Snow Queen, which was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow and is based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The 1959 Universal English version featured the voices of Sandra Dee and Tommy Kirk as Gerda and Kay. In 1965, Universal released their second animated film titled Pinocchio in Outer Space, which sets Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio character on a rocketship adventure. After Pinocchio in Outer Space, however, Universal did not produce yet another animated film until 1986. On November 21, 1986, Universal released An American Tail, which was directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film was a box office hit, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time; this prompted Steven Spielberg to establish his own animation studio, Amblimation. Two years later, The Land Before Time, another Don Bluth film, was released into theaters on November 18, 1988 by Universal and had grossed $48 million at the US box office. The film spawned a franchise with thirteen direct-to-video sequels and a television series as well as merchandise. On July 6, 1990, Jetsons: The Movie, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, was released by Universal and grossed $20.3 million in its theatrical run; the film received mostly negative reviews with a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews. On November 22, 1991, Universal released a sequel to 1986's An American Tail titled An American Tail: Fievel Goes West; it was produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio and released by Universal. The film performed modestly at the box office grossing $40 million and received mixed reviews from critics. Universal/Amblimation's next animated feature film was We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, which was originally released to theaters on November 24, 1993 for the United States and features the voice talents of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Walter Cronkite, Julia Child, and Martin Short. However, the film was a box office bomb, with an US gross of $9.3 million. On December 22, 1995, Amblimation's third and final feature was Balto, featuring the voice talents of Kevin Bacon, Bridget Fonda, Phil Collins, and Bob Hoskins; it is loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Although the film's theatrical run was overshadowed by the success of the competing Pixar film Toy Story, its subsequent strong sales on home video led to two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004) though none of the voice cast reprised their roles. 1996–2007: The rise of Gingo feature films, pre-Illumination era In May 1996, five months after the release of Amblimation's Balto in 1995, Universal partnered with Gingo Animation, an North Hollywood-based animation studio known for the Gabriel Garza franchise, to co-produce and distribute Gingo's first feature-length film Paint World, which was already in pre-production. Meanwhile, Universal released Tony Tom-Tom's Delivery Service, an animated comedy film produced by DJW Animation Studios, on October 17, 1997 in the United States; it was a critical and financial success. In August 1998, Universal and Gingo extended the deal for an additional ten films. Featuring the voices of Haley Joel Osment, Patricia Arquette, Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon and Dennis Hopper, Paint World was released by Universal on Christmas Day, December 25, 1999 in the United States; it received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, by grossing over $452.1 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of the year, as well as the second highest-grossing animated film of 1999 behind Toy Story 2. On July 31, 2002, Tony 2: Across the Nation, a sequel to DJW's 1997 film Tony Tom-Tom's Delivery Service, was released into theaters by Universal and went on to earn over $261 million at the worldwide box office against its $46 million budget, becoming a box office success despite mixed critical reception. Meanwhile, on August 16, 2002, Universal/Gingo released their second feature film and their final traditionally animated film, The Gabriel Garza Movie, an adaptation of Gabriel Garza. Distributed by Universal domestically and by 20th Century Fox internationally, The Gabriel Garza Movie features the voices of Debi Derryberry, Rob Paulsen, E.G. Daily, Kath Soucie, Billy West, Doug Lawrence, and Charlie Adler, with guest roles from Jodi Benson, Dan Aykroyd, Richard Kind, and John Goodman. The film was released on August 16, 2002, and received mixed to negative reviews from critics. It earned over $89 million worldwide on its $60 million budget; despite being a modest box office success, it fell short of Universal's financial expectations; as a result, Gingo abandoned traditional animation in favor of computer animation shortly after the film's release. On July 2, 2004, Universal released its first fully computer-animated feature, Computeropolis, which was produced by Gingo and it stars the voices of Jesse McCartney, David Spade, Kelsey Grammer, Dan Fogler, David Hyde Pierce, Jodi Benson, Jon Lovitz, Jennifer Tilly, William Shatner, and Harland Williams; it was met with favorable reviews and grossed $687 million worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2004. Computeropolis was also both Universal's and Gingo's first fully CGI animated film, respectively. Due to its success, Universal and Gingo were requested to greenlight a sequel. The following year, Universal released its second all-CGI film M.I.S.S.I.O.N., its fourth collaboration with Gingo, on July 15, 2005 in the United States, to generally positive reviews. The film features the voices of Zach Tyler Eisen, Gary LeRoi Gray, Avril Lavigne, Stanley Tucci and Wally Kurth. Although it was a modest box office success, it fell short of expectations upon its release, resulting in a $93 million write-down for Universal/Gingo; they abandoned plans for a sequel titled M.I.S.S.I.O.N. #2 as a result. Curious George, directed by Matthew O'Callaghan and based on the Curious George books by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey, was Universal's first theatrically-released animated film not produced by Gingo since 2002's Tony 2: Across the Nation. Featuring the voices of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Dick Van Dyke, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright and Frank Welker, the film was released on February 10, 2006 and grossed $69.8 million from a $50 million budget and has a 69% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, which calls it "a bright, sweet, faithful adaptation". Universal/Gingo's fifth film BJ and Wally, an adaptation of the comic strip of the same name, debuted on July 7, 2006, earning $486 million worldwide. Directed by Geo G. and produced by Michael Wildshill, the film features the voices of Zach Braff, Greg Cipes, Matthew Broderick, Joan Cusack, Tim Curry, Wayne Knight, Isla Fisher, Richard Kind, Reese Witherspoon, Dana Carvey, and William Shatner. Universal/Gingo's first sequel and sixth film, Computeropolis 2, opened in the United States on July 6, 2007, earning over $953 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing 2007 animated film and breaking a record as the most profitable Universal/Gingo film. 2008–2015: Gingo and Illumination era In 2008, Illumination Entertainment, an animation production company founded by Chris Meledandri, made a deal with Universal which positioned Illumination as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm within its feature animation group (which consists of Gingo) that would produce one to three films a year starting in 2010, divided between Gingo and Illumination. Like Gingo, Illumination retains creative control and Universal exclusively distributes the films; critics and fans felt that Gingo and Illumination were meant to help Universal to establish a feature animation group and a competitor to Disney's feature animation group which consists of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios (including its division DisneyToon Studios). To maintain the separation of Illumination and Gingo despite their now common ownership and management, Gingo founders Geo G. and Michael Wildshill "drew a hard line" that each studio was solely responsible for its own projects and would not be allowed to borrow personnel from or lend tasks out to the other. Wildshill said that he and Geo "make sure the studios are quite distinct from each other. We don’t want them to merge; that would definitely be the wrong approach. Each should have its own personality." Also, in the same year when Universal and Illumination announced a deal, Universal released its first theatrically released computer-animated film without Gingo, which is The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, released on January 11, 2008. Produced by Big Idea Entertainment and Starz Animation, it is the second film featuring characters from the VeggieTales video series. The film earned $12.7 million for Universal out of an estimated $15 million budget. Meanwhile, Universal/Gingo's seventh feature Swapped was released into American theaters on July 2, 2008. Featuring the voices of Sarah Vowell, Freddie Highmore, Ashley Johnson, Luke Benward, Michael Yarmush and Leslie Mann, Swapped follows a young girl and a teenage goth boy who swap bodies. The film opened to a much bigger than expected $43 million opening, and ended up with $376 million worldwide. The second non-Gingo CGI-animated feature from Universal was The Tale of Despereaux, which was released on December 19, 2008 and grossed $86,947,965 on a $60 million budget. Loosely based on the 2003 fantasy book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, the movie is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and stars Matthew Broderick, Robbie Coltrane, Frances Conroy, Tony Hale, Ciarán Hinds, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, William H. Macy, Charles Shaughnessy, Stanley Tucci, Tracey Ullman, and Emma Watson. Universal's Focus Features label released Coraline, a 3D stop-motion fantasy horror film produced by Laika as their first feature film. Based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name, the film was released on February 6, 2009 and received critical acclaim. The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office. At the end of its box office run, the film had grossed over $124.5 million worldwide. Coraline won Annie Awards for best music, character design, production design and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Animated Feature. The following month, Woo La La, Universal/Gingo's eighth feature film, was released on March 13, 2009 by Universal in the United States. Featuring the voices of Josh Hutcherson, Debra Messing, George Takei, Ian McShane, Ken Jeong, Brad Garrett, Gong Li and Hiroyuki Sanada, Woo La La earned $532 million worldwide, making it Universal's highest-grossing film of 2009. Meanwhile, Universal released another animated film via its Focus Features, which is the Tim Burton-produced 9. Featuring the voice talents of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau and Fred Tatasciore, 9'' is based on Shane Acker's Academy Award-nominated 2005 short film of the same name and was released on September 9, 2009; it received generally mixed reviews from critics and earned $48.4 million on a $30 million budget. It also received an Annie Award nomination for Best Animated Effects in a Feature Production. Universal/Gingo's ninth feature ''Computeropolis 3, the third installment in the ''Computeropolis'' franchise, was released into theaters on March 5, 2010. The film earned over $383 million worldwide, but unlike the first two Computeropolis films, Computeropolis 3 was not well-received critically and its box office performance was seen as an underperformance due to competition with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. On July 9, 2010, Illumination's first feature film Despicable Me, starring Steve Carell, was released. It was a smash hit, earning $56 million on its opening weekend, and going on to earn $251 million domestically and $543 million worldwide. On June 17, 2011, Universal and DJW Studios released Defender D, DJW's first feature film with Universal since Tony 2: Across the Nation in 2002. Defender D received critical acclaim, earning $321 million worldwide on a budget of $62 million. On July 5, 2011, Universal/Gingo's tenth feature Gabriel Garza, a reboot of the Gabriel Garza franchise, was released in the United States. Starring the voices of Zachary Gordon, Elijah Wood, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Jason Lee, Jenny Slate, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jack McBrayer, the film grossed $645 million worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 2011. In 2012, an adaptation of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, starring Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms and Taylor Swift, was released on March 2, 2012 by Universal and Illumination; the film grossed $70 million on its opening weekend, and eventually found its way to $214 million stateside and $348 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Universal/Gingo's eleventh film was Plucky Chicken, released on July 27, 2012 and grossed $426 million worldwide. Featuring the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Joan Cusack, Danny McBride, Neil Patrick Harris, Wilmer Valderrama and Steve Buscemi, Plucky Chicken received mixed reviews, with primary criticism disliked the film's unexpected similarities with Aardman Animations' Chicken Run. On August 17, 2012, Focus Features and Laika released their second stop-motion animated film ParaNorman, which stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein and John Goodman. ParaNorman is the first stop-motion film to use a 3D color printer to create character faces and only the second to be shot in 3D. The film mainly received positive reviews and was a modest box office success, earning $107 million against its budget of $60 million; it received nominations for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. On March 1, 2013, Universal/Gingo released their twelfth film Quest in the United States and earned over $524 million worldwide. The film features the voices of Elijah Wood, Simon Pegg, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Toby Kebbell, Danny McBride, Jennifer Tilly and Alan Tudyk, and was met with positive reviews, with critics praising its animation, story, direction, and voice acting. On July 3, 2013, Despicable Me 2, the sequel to the 2010 animated film Despicable Me, was released. Earning worldwide over $970 million, Despicable Me 2 became the second highest-grossing 2013 animated film and broke a record as the most profitable Universal Studios film in its 100-year history. Universal/Gingo's thirteenth film, Gabriel Garza 2, opened in the United States on July 2, 2014, earning over $895 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of 2014. In August 2014, it was announced that Gingo would launch a new division named GingoMotion Studios, which would rely on other animation studios to provide the animation on their films, with the main studio in Burbank only having about 20 employees working there at the time. Meanwhile, on September 26, 2014, Focus Features/Laika's The Boxtrolls, which is based on the novel Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow and features the voices of Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steven Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan and Simon Pegg, was released and earned $109 million on a $60 million budget. In October 2014, just a month before the release of Disney's Big Hero 6, Universal entered a licensing agreement with Disney to use the Hiro Hamada character and trademark for Universal's Gingo productions (such as films, television series, shorts, specials, video games, etc.), which sparked media speculation that Hiro will guest star in Gingo's animated comedy sketch series ''GGTV'' as well as appearing in one Gingo film. Gingo coincidentally planned an animated film based on the original Big Hero 6 comics by Marvel in the mid 2000s until it got cancelled years before Disney released their own version of Big Hero 6 in 2014. Gingo's CEO and founder Geo G. stated that the reasoning was due to wanting to have Hiro in Gingo media because of the increasing popularity of "Liro", an internet crossover fan-fiction relationship between Hiro and Leno Garza, a character from Gingo's ''Gabriel Garza'' franchise, as they both share the similar appearance and characteristics. Universal and Gingo stated in July 2017 that they intend to keep the Hiro Hamada character license from Disney until the contract expires in 2027. Hatty, based on Gingo's animated television series of the same name, was released on March 6, 2015 as Gingo/Universal's fourteenth film. Directed by Steve Samono, it features Luke Wilson as Hatty Weasel, Wayne Knight as Allo Frog, Nathan Lane as Robby Penguin, Jason Sudeikis as Bib Snake, Anna Faris as Lizzy Monkey, and Peter Dinklage as Tiny Beaver. A spin-off of the Despicable Me franchise titled Minions was released into theaters on July 10, 2015 in the United States; starring the voices of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders and Pierre Coffin (as the Minions, including: Kevin, Stuart and Bob), Minions was the first Universal animated film to earn over $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue and is currently the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film and the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, behind Disney's Frozen in 2013. Meanwhile, Gingo's fifteenth film, The Planetokio Movie, based on the video game series Planetokio, directed by Audel LaRoque, was released on December 11, 2015 by Universal. Starring Griffin Gluck, Jessica Biel, George Takei, Danny McBride, Nathan Lane, Bill Hader, Wallace Shawn, Bobby Moynihan and Tom Kane as the voices of the characters, The Planetokio Movie received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $717 million worldwide, becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of 2015. On April 5, 2016, Universal/Gingo released their sixteenth feature film DCL: Desktop Component League, a spin-off of the Computeropolis franchise; the film stars the voices of David Hyde Pierce, Jon Lovitz, Jodi Benson, Jennifer Tilly, Bill Hader, James Corden, Rob Corddry, Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Coogan and has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Gingo film (surpassing Computeropolis 2 in 2007). 2016–present: Comcast buys DreamWorks Animation On April 28, 2016, two weeks after the successful release of Gingo's DCL: Desktop Component League, Universal's parent company NBCUniversal/Comcast officially announced its intent to acquire DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, valuing the company at $41 per share. Universal will take over the distribution for DreamWorks Animation films starring with the 2019 release of How to Train Your Dragon 3 after their deal with 20th Century Fox expires. The sale was approved by board members, but was subject to regulatory approval. On June 21, 2016, the acquisition was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Meanwhile, The Secret Life of Pets was released on July 8, 2016. Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, it features the voices of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Ellie Kemper, Jenny Slate, and Albert Brooks. Laika's fourth film, Kubo and the Two Strings, was released on August 19, 2016. It received two nominations at the Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects (as only the second animated film to receive that nomination, after The Nightmare Before Christmas). It won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature. It also received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes, and ten nominations at the Annie Awards, winning three, for Character Animation, Production Design and Editorial in a Feature Production. Meanwhile, on August 22, NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation was completed, and DreamWorks Animation is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast-NBCUniversal. This will give Universal Pictures distribution to all DreamWorks Animation, Illumination Entertainment and Gingo Animation films beginning in 2019. Illumination's seventh film, Sing, a comedy written and directed by Garth Jennings, was released on December 21, 2016. In addition to The Secret Life of Pets and Sing, Universal's other latest animated releases are the Geo G.-directed animated film Imagimals, released on March 3, 2017, the sequel to DJW's 2011 film Defender D, Defender 2D, released on April 26, 2017, the third installment in the Despicable Me series, Despicable Me 3, released on June 30, 2017, and the third installment in the Gabriel Garza reboot film series, Gabriel Garza 3, released on July 19, 2017. Filmography Feature films The Snow Queen (1957/1959) and Pinocchio in Outer Space (1965) do not count as official Universal animated films, despite them being the first two animated feature films distributed by Universal. Also, this list only includes animated feature films released by Universal and not the ones by its Focus Features label. Upcoming feature films Animated films by studio Gingo Animation Since 2004, Universal owns Gingo Animation, an North Hollywood-based animation company. Universal has had much more success with Gingo, and the box office receipts of their films are competitive with those of Disney and Pixar, respectively. Gingo has released or will release the following films, beginning with Paint World in 1999. GingoMotion Studios This is the complete list of animated films produced by GingoMotion Studios, a division label of Gingo. Universal Animation Studios This is the complete list of animated films produced by Universal Animation Studios, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, which have had a theatrical release. However, Universal Animation Studios has only made two theatrical films from the following: As of 2017, Universal Animation Studios has not produced a third theatrical film to date. Illumination Entertainment In addition to Gingo, Universal also owns Illumination Entertainment. Illumination has released or will release the following films: DreamWorks Animation On April 28, 2016, Universal's parent company NBCUniversal announced a $3.8 billion deal to buy DreamWorks Animation. On August 22, 2016, the deal was completed. Universal will take over the distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation starting in 2019 with the release of How to Train Your Dragon 3, after DreamWorks Animation's distribution deal with 20th Century Fox ends. The following films will be produced by DreamWorks Animation since its acquisition by Universal. All animated films are also currently owned by Universal and it will assume distribution rights to all of the DWA films released by DreamWorks Pictures (1997–2005) from the latter's current distribution partner 20th Century Fox. Other animated films distributed by Universal Unlike the films above that were made by Universal via its animation studios, the films below were only distributed by Universal. Animated films released under the Focus Features label This following list shows animated films released through Universal's Focus Features label. Most of them are stop-motion films produced by Laika. Complete list of Universal animated films by color key Released Upcoming or in production Universal-distributed only animated films The following is a list of animated films that are all distributed by the main Universal Pictures label, which excludes the ones released by Universal's Focus Features banner. Released Upcoming Highest-grossing Universal animated films To date, Minions, which grossed $1.167 billion worldwide, is currently the highest-grossing animated film released by Universal. See also *List of animation studios owned by NBCUniversal *Gingo-Illumination film list *Gingo-Illumination-DreamWorks film list References Category:Lists Category:Films Category:Universal Pictures Category:Gingo Animation Category:Illumination Entertainment Category:DreamWorks Animation